


Wait for Us

by dont-tell-them-i-write-phan (QueenBoudicatheGreat)



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Airports, Family Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Parenthood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-03
Updated: 2017-11-03
Packaged: 2019-01-29 02:06:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12620736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenBoudicatheGreat/pseuds/dont-tell-them-i-write-phan
Summary: After five whole years of waiting Zachary Howell-Lester is ready to go to Playlist Live. Unfortunately airports are trickier than they seem. Zach may be ready but Dan and Phil maybe not so much.Uploaded from Tumblr





	Wait for Us

**Author's Note:**

> Beta’s Note~ Hey @phanweek a bit of a late entry for Day 1 SFW. I’m actually the beta posting for Bee (the author) who’s not close to a computer right now and we kind of forgot day 1 was right now, oops!
> 
> Author’s Note~ Hi everyone! Big thank you to @natskindacrisis for posting this for me! I’m a dork who forgets deadlines @_@
> 
> Uploaded 11/16/15

 “Dad! Dad, wake up!!”

Phil groaned with exaggerated annoyance and cracked an eye open to mock glare at the boy bouncing on his hips. “Hasn’t anyone told you not to wake up a sleeping lion?” he growled playfully.

“But Daaaaaad, we’re going to America! You  _promised_ I could go this year,” Zach whined. “Besides, Daddy said I could.”

Phil gasped in horror and turned his head to see a fully dressed Dan standing in the doorway to their bedroom. “Betrayed!” Phil cried dramatically. “Betrayed by the one I thought I could trust! Et tu, Brute?”

“Come on, you lazy dingus. Out of bed,” Dan laughed, walking over and poking his side. “I held him off as long as I could. You managed to sleep through his four A.M. wakeup call, but we’ve got a plane to catch.”

“We’re going on a  _plane_?” Zach asked, green eyes sparkling in wonder.

“Of course we are!” Phil said, sitting up so his son was sat properly on his lap. “You didn’t think we were going to  _swim_ to Florida, did you?”

“ _No_ ,” the boy said, dragging out the “o.” “I thought we were gonna take a train like we do to all your other places.”

“Nope,” Phil grinned. “No trains to America. But we’ve got a looooong flight ahead of us. Ten whole hours, are you ready for that?”

“Yeah! I’m gonna play my games!”

“Is Binx ready to fly?”

“Uh-huh!”

“Are you gonna bring a book?”

“Yup! Daddy and I are gonna read Pooh Bear!” he beamed proudly.

“Well, there’s no better story teller in the world than your daddy,” Phil whispered loudly.

“Your flattery won’t get you to Orlando, so out of bed, you,” Dan snorted with a roll of his eyes.

“You used to get all cute and flustered when I said stuff like that,” Phil pouted, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. He deposited Zach on the ground, laughing as the five year old immediately ran off as soon as his feet hit the floor. However, instead of standing he snagged Dan by his belt loops and yanked him into his lap.

“And just  _what_ do you think you’re doing?” Dan asked, his tone unamused, but a smile twitched in the corners of his mouth.

“Are you telling me I  _can’t_ admire my husband?” Phil gasped.

“Not when you have to get ready and your husband has a kid to wrangle.”

“But I didn’t even get my good morning kiss,” Phil whined. “How am I meant to do anything without that?”

Dan laughed out a “Loser” before pecking Phil’s lips and standing. “There, now get up and get dressed. We’ve got a long day ahead of us.” When Phil sat there muttering about wanting a “better kiss” Dan shook his head with a smile. “When you earn a better kiss you’ll get one. Get dressed.”

“We have everything packed, right? Clothes, laptops, medicine, inhalers and all, yeah?”

“Of course. Not everyone was being a sleeping lump this morning. Some of us actually did something.”

Phil just grinned, still sat on the bed as he watched Dan leave the room, calling for Zach. This was going to be a great week.

_________

Several hours, a cab ride, and one surprisingly smooth baggage check later, the Lester family was boarding their nonstop flight to Orlando, Florida.

“I wanna sit next to the window!” Zach shouted, diving into the seat, Binx the tiger grasped tight in his fist.

“What type of voice do we use when we’re inside, Zach?” Dan asked gently as he shoved their bags into the overhead compartment. Phil was settling himself down in the middle seat, Zach’s bookbag full of coloring books, crayons, electronics, books, medication, and snacks in his lap.

“We use inside voices,” Zach answered, much quieter than he had before.

“Very good,” Phil beamed. “We have to use our inside voices the whole time we’re on the plane; okay?” Zach nodded furiously. Phil patted his lap. “Come here, we’ve got to put something in your ears.”

“Why?” Zach asked curiously, doing as he was told.

“Because,” Phil explained, fishing some cotton balls out of his pocket, “when the plane goes up high it makes your ears feel weird and it’s not fun. The cotton balls help.”

“I don’t like ‘em,” Zach protested, shaking his head in an attempt to dislodge the cotton. When they stayed firmly put he scowled and clutched his stuffie close to his chest.

“Here, maybe you’ll like this better.” Zach beamed and happily took the sucker from Phil. When prompted, he politely put the wrapper in Phil’s outstretched palm and began sucking on the candy.

There was a bit of quiet fussing when it was time to get Zach’s seatbelt on, but by the time the flight attendants had finished their recital of safety regulations everyone was situated and ready for takeoff. Dan nudged Phil’s arm to get his attention and offered him a pack of gum. “You have Zach ready for the pressure change?” he asked, already chewing his own piece.

“Earplugs in and lolly being sucked.”

“Perfect.”

Things went deceptively well during the taxi and takeoff, but when Phil turned to ask Zach what he wanted to do first the boy had his face scrunched up with silent tears rolling down his chubby cheeks. “Tiger, what’s wrong?” Phil asked. The worry in his tone alerted Dan who stiffened at the sight of his crying son.

“My ears hurt,” Zach sniffled quietly.

Dan and Phil traded worried glances. They were so used to flying by now that their ears popped without much effort, but since it was Zach’s first time they knew it wouldn’t be so easy. They’d hoped the cotton balls and hard candy would suffice like they’d read on the ever helpful internet, but that obviously wasn’t the case.

Suddenly Phil smiled, remembering the trick his brother had shown him on his own very first plane ride. “Hey, Zach, can you do something for me?” The boy nodded. “Take a deep breath. Yeah, like that. Now keep your lips closed tight and blow out of your nose as hard as you can.” When Zach did so Phil quickly pinched his nose, causing him to rear back in shock. “Better?”

Zach sat there blinking for a moment before beaming. “Yeah! My ears aren’t all stuffed up any more!”

“Awesome!” Phil grinned.

“Can I have my games now?”

Phil chuckled at how quickly Zach’s mood turned around and fished out the child’s tablet. He hooked up the headphones and situated them over the black curls, and lost his child to the world of a stuffed animal vet simulator.

“I have to say, I was worried there for a second,” Dan admitted when Phil settled back down by his side. “How did you know to do that? I mean, I know about the whole blowing out of your nose thing, but how did you know to do it like that?”

“You can thank Martyn Lester for that,” Phil chuckled. “I was eight and nobody told me about the pressure change so Martyn did that to me. I thought he was going to sock me in the nose.”

“Well, I’m glad you learned from that surely traumatic experience.”

“I most certainly did. Have I earned that kiss now?”

“Well, I suppose.”

_________

“Dad, I wanna sit next to Daddy,” Zach said, tugging on Phil’s sleeve gently. “‘m bored of this.” He gestured to his tablet to better explain himself.

Phil looked up from the ESTA forms he was filling out and glanced over at Dan, who was naturally sound asleep. They’d been on the plane two hours now and seeing as he’d been up since four it made sense that he was tired. “Sorry, Tiger, but Daddy’s taking a nap right now so we can’t wake him up. Do you wanna do something else?”

Zach pouted and crossed his little arms, glaring at the seat in front of him. “No.”

“Do you wanna play your games?”

“No.”

“Do you want me to read to you instead?”

“No.”

“Do you want a snack?”

“No.”

“Is the next word you say going to be ‘no’?”

“N-” Zach puffed out his cheeks when he realized he’d been tricked and Phil giggled.

“Okay, buddy, you have two options,” Phil said. “You can either take a nap or color. Choice is yours, but you have to pick.”

Zach furrowed his tiny brow in thought before deciding. “Color.” So Phil dutifully took out his coloring book and crayons and pulled the chair tray down. Once Zach was situated he went back to filling out the forms they’d need to get into the US. A few minutes later however, he heard Zach’s voice again, but this time it wasn’t directed at him. “My name’s Zach. I’m five. How old are you?”

Phil turned to see that Zach had climbed up on his tray and was now draped over the chair in front of him, talking to the old lady seated there. Phil went to grab Zach and put him back in his seat but she caught his eye and shook her head with a smile. “My name is Mary, and I’m much older than five.”

“Are you twelve?”

“Older than that.”

“ _Four hundred_?”

“Oh heavens, no!” Mary laughed. “I’m not quite that old yet, but sometimes I feel like it. What are you doing in Orlando?”

“Dad says we gotta do work stuff for a few days but then we’re gonna spend a week at our house on the beach!  _And_ we’re going to Disney World. I’m gonna see Mickey,” Zach bragged.

“Oh? And where is your mother during this?”

“I don’t have a mom.”

Mary looked sympathetic. “So it’s just you and Dad, then?”

Zach smiled brightly and shook his head. “No, we have Daddy, too. We don’t need a mom.”

“Daddy?” Mary questioned, casting a glance at Phil who pointedly looked at the sleeping man beside him. Mary flushed. “Oh! Oh my. I suppose you don’t if you’ve got a Dad and a Daddy, then.”

“Nope! Why is your hair all white? It looks soft and see-through like the clouds outside.”

Mary laughed and said that’s what happens when you get old. Zach asked if one day she’d turn into a cloud completely and if he could pet her hair. Phil took that as his cue to gently direct Zach into his seat and back to his coloring.

_________

“Zach. Come on, Zach, it’s time to wake up,” Phil cooed, gently shaking the child in his lap. Over the course of the trip Zach had been moved to the middle seat so Dan could read to him, but he later crawled into Phil’s lap with his stuffed tiger in hand to settle in for a nap. “Zach? Hey, we gotta put the cotton balls back in your ears. We’re about to land.”

“I dun wan ‘em,” Zach moaned, shoving his face in Phil’s chest.

“I promise they help. You can have another sucker and if it doesn’t work we’ll do the nose thing again.”

Zach sat up in all his flushed, grumpy, sleepy glory, and let Phil stuff his ears closed and took his candy. When they landed Phil helped him pop his ears again and they settled in for the wait to disembark. When the doors opened Zach immediately tried to bound away, but Dan managed to snag him around the waist and sit him back down. “We’ve got to wait for all the people to get off,” Dan explained. “We don’t want to lose you.”

“But I have to  _pee_ ,” Zach protested.

“As soon as we get inside Dad or I will take you to the bathroom.”

“I can do it by myself.”

“Not here, okay?” Dan warned. “When we get to the hotel room you can go by yourself, but unless we’re in the room or at the beach house you have to take me or Dad with you.”

Zach grumbled some more and Dan handed him over to Phil when the aisle was clear enough for him to stand and gather their things. Once they were ladened down with their carry ons the three of them departed and made their way through the crowded intake area for customs to the baggage claim.

“Can I pee  _now_?” Zach demanded as they stood waiting for the rest of their luggage.

“Yes, Zach, Dad will take you,” Dan said calmly. “I’m going to wait here for the rest of our stuff.”

“Uh, actually I can’t” Phil said suddenly, his face pale. Dan arched a brow at him in question. “I may have forgotten a certain  _someone_ ” - he shot a pointed glance at Zach - “on the plane.”

Dan furrowed his brow in confusion before he noticed that Zach wasn’t holding Binx, and if the look on Zach’s face was anything to go by he was starting to notice as well. “Go, now, quickly,” Dan said, looking as worried as Phil. “I’ll keep Zach, you just hurry.”

Phil nodded and sprinted back towards their terminal. He ran up to one of the stewards about to enter and grabbed his hand. “Please!” he gasped. “My son left his tiger on the plane. Tell me I can still get it. Please.”

The steward gave him a sympathetic look and ushered him along. “Lucky you noticed so quickly,” he said conversationally. “We find more than a couple toys when we sweep the planes, and we were just about to clean this one when you came up.”

The words fell on deaf ears, however because Phil had spotted the dark brown, matted paw of his son’s favorite toy sticking out into the aisle. “Oh thank god” he breathed, collapsing to his knees to fish it out from under the seat. He stood again, beaming, dusted the tiger off and thanked the steward profusely.

“It’s really no problem,” he grinned. “I’m just really glad you got his tiger. It looks well-loved.”

“Oh, it most certainly is,” Phil laughed. With a final thanks and a parting wave, Phil made his way back to where Dan was standing.

However, almost as soon as he stepped off the terminal a tall, extremely pale (paler than normal) man barreled into him, then held him at arm’s length and looked him up and down. “Oh god, you don’t have him either,” a very panicked Dan said.

Phil felt a quick flash of confusion, seeing as he had Binx held quite visibly in his hand, but quickly realized that Dan wouldn’t be this worried over a toy, no matter how precious. On instinct Phil’s eyes darted down to Dan’s side where Zach was normally clutching at his pant leg, but found the space empty. “Where is he?!”

“I don’t know!” Dan shouted, his voice cracking and close to tears. “I looked away for a damn second and he was gone! I had hoped he saw where you were going and followed!” He suddenly whirled around and grabbed a stranger by the shoulders and demanded, “Have you seen a little boy? He’s this tall, black hair, green eyes and he’s wearing blue jeans and a red shirt with aliens on it.” When the stranger shook her head in mild terror Dan released her and screamed into his hands, not caring that she quickly ran away. Before Phil could do anything Dan had removed his hands and attacked another stranger.

Though Phil was rather close to panicking himself, he knew he couldn’t show it in front of Dan who was damn near hysterical. He grabbed Dan’s shoulders and spun him around so their noses almost brushed. “Dan? Dan, look at me,” Phil said gently, his voice deep and Northern like it always got when he was serious. Watery brown eyes met blue. “We’re not going to find him if we just stand here going to pieces. Now, you and I are going to look for him. Together. Okay?”

“Wouldn’t it make more sense for us to split up though?”

Phil was already shaking his head before Dan finished, watching as he nervously gnawed at his thumb. “No. Bear, we’re going to stick together. We can do anything, you and me, yeah? We’re going to find Zach and we’re going to squeeze him so tight he’s gonna complain about not being able to breathe and then we’re going to buy that boy a damn leash for the next two weeks.”

Dan chuckled weakly and nodded his head. He wiped under his eyes and scrubbed his cheeks before saying, “Okay, yeah. Let’s go.”

“Maybe he went back to the luggage claim to find you, so let’s go there, alright?” Dan nodded stiffly before taking off, Phil running to keep up.

Fortunately, when Dan once again sought answers from passerby he was much calmer. “Hi,” he said with a smile. The lady in front of him looked him up and down with distaste, but he continued. “We managed to get separated from our child and were wondering if you’ve seen him. He’s five years old and he’s wearing a red t-shirt with aliens on it.”

She pursed her lips tighter and looked between Dan and Phil before nastily saying, “No, I haven’t seen him. It’s people like you that don’t deserve to be parents.” Then she stuck her nose in the air and walked away.

“Yeah? Well, fuck you, too!” Dan snarled after her.

Phil put a comforting hand on his shoulder, knowing the younger man often resorted to anger to hide when he was hurt. Dan melted under his touch and Phil drew him into his side. “She doesn’t know what she’s talking about, Bear. She’s just a mean lady and you’re the best Daddy ever, okay?”

Dan snorted. “What kind of ‘best daddy ever’ loses his own kid?”

“Hey, don’t do that to yourself, okay?” Phil scowled. “You didn’t lose Zach, we all got separated. This happens all the time, you understand? This doesn’t say anything about how good of a parent you are.” Dan just turned his head away until Phil grabbed his chin and forced their eyes to meet. “Okay?”

“Okay,” Dan whispered. He took a deep breath and shook his head. “Okay, he said something about going to the bathroom, right? Let’s head that way. He’s smart, he probably asked someone where it was.”

“Right. You’re right. I hadn’t even thought of that. Let’s go.”

They slowly picked their way through the crowd, hands clasped and scanning for any sign that their son had been that way. When they made it to the bathrooms, however, a man with a laden down cleaning cart was backing out of it. He looked up at the two of them and said, “Do you two need any help?”

He had a thick accent, but Phil wasn’t familiar enough with American accents to know where it was from. It sounded friendly, though, so Phil said, “We’re actually looking for our son. We got separated at the baggage claim and we think he might have tried to come here.”

The cleaning man’s face fell and he looked truly sorry to admit, “I’m sorry, but I haven’t seen him, and I’ve been cleaning this place for the last ten minutes.” At their crestfallen expressions he quickly added, “But there’s another bathroom at the other end, closer to the customs intake. He might have made it over there. If you still can’t find him you can use one of those phones to call security. This happens more often than you’d think and they’ll help you look. That’s all I can think of, though.”

Phil thanked him profusely, keeping a tight hold on Dan’s hand to prevent him from running off, and they left to the sound of the friendly cleaning man’s well-wishes. They were keeping a good pace, Phil surprisingly in the lead, until Dan stopped short in the middle of the hall. Phil turned around when he felt a tug on his hand. “Dan? Do you see him?” He looked all around them but when Dan stayed silent with his head bowed he softly asked, “Bear? What’s wrong? Talk to me?”

Dan whispered something so quiet Phil couldn’t hear it and when asked to repeat himself he looked up, showing his tear stained face. “What if we don’t find him?”

“We  _will find him_ , Dan,” Phil said fiercely. “I don’t care if we have to do some action movie stuff and put this entire airport on lockdown and interrogate every person in here. I don’t care if we have to walk from here to California then swim to Japan. We’re going to find him, and I don’t want to hear you say that ever again, got it?”

Dan smiled weakly and squeezed Phil’s hand. “You’re right. Of course you’re right. We’re going to find him and hug the crap out of that kid.”

“Yeah we are. Now come on, we’re not going to find him standing here, are we?”

Dan shook his head and they headed toward the other bathroom. They searched it up and down before walking out, still Zach-less. Phil watched as another ball of hysteria bubbled up from Dan’s chest and he shouted, “Zach!” Phil put a comforting hand on Dan’s shoulder but he shook it off, once again calling desperately for their son.

Then they heard it. It was so quiet that it should have been impossible to hear in the noisy room but there it was. A soft whimper of “Daddy?”

Dan froze for a millisecond before leaping into action and by the time Phil finally found him, he was holding a sobbing Zach in his lap, rocking back and forth gently and running a hand through the black curls. “Oh, baby, my baby,” he cooed, tears running steadily down his face. Phil felt the  ball of anxiety in his chest that had been tightening since he discovered Zach’s disappearance immediately dissolve.

“I’m s-s-sorry!” Zach wailed, clutching the material of Dan’s shirt tighter in his fist. “I just w-wanted to pee and then I couldn’t find you and it was s-so  _loud_. It was so l-loud and scary.”

“I know, baby, shh,” Dan soothed. “Me and Dad were scared, too. It’s okay to be scared sometimes.”

Phil knelt down and wrapped both of them in a hug, tightening his grip and burying his face in Zach’s hair. “We were so worried about you,” he whispered.

“’m sorry,” Zach whimpered. “I didn’t mean to. I just wanted to be big.”

“Hey, no, it’s okay,” Dan said quickly. “You didn’t know, and now you do. You have to stay with me or Dad while we’re here, okay?”

Zach nodded, still leaning heavily on Dan’s chest and Phil pulled away, a grin plastered on his features. “You know who else was scared?” he asked, hiding Binx behind his back. When Zach shook his head he revealed the toy.

“Binx!” Zach cried joyfully, grabbing the toy close before retreating back to the safety of Dan’s chest.

“We’re going to have to be careful with Binx, too,” Phil warned. “Just like you have to stay with me and Daddy, Binx has to stay with you the whole time. We can’t leave him places, okay?”

“Okay,” Zach agreed easily. He yawned widely and hid his face in the crook of Dan’s neck where he promptly fell asleep. Episodes like this always tired him out, but at least this time he hadn’t needed his inhaler.

Phil took them in his arms again and sighed. They both sat there for a moment in silence before Dan let out a weak chuckle. “I haven’t been that worried since the day he was born.”

“So this was scarier than the time he was just learning to walk and we decided to accidentally leave the door to the balcony open?”

Dan shuddered. “We both agreed we wouldn’t talk about that ever again. And, yes, this was scarier for me.”

“Me, too,” Phil admitted.

“Anything could have happened to him. He could have been kidnapped and had something awful done to him and it would have been all my fault.”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Phil said quickly, pulling back to look directly into those eyes he knew so well. “Don’t you go playing that game. It’s just as much my fault as yours. If I hadn’t forgotten Binx on the plane I would have kept an eye on him. Don’t do that to yourself. This. Wasn’t. Your. Fault.” With each of the last four words he pressed a hard kiss to Dan’s face.

“I just don’t get how you were so calm,” Dan sighed. “I was about to have a full-blown panic attack and you were there with your cool head and you took care of everything, including me.”

“I was just as scared as you were, Bear. We’re partners, remember? When I can’t handle something you step in and when you’re scared I’m the one who’s brave. We help each other.”

“My big brave lion,” Dan said with a soft smile.

“Damn straight.” Phil stood and helped Dan to his feet without disturbing the boy still asleep in his arms. “Now come on. We need to go tell some nosey American that we’re not Nazi terrorists and have them snort when we tell them we make videos for the internet.”

Dan laughed and leaned into Phil who playfully leaned back. Then the tiny family went back to baggage claim like that. Supporting each other. 

 


End file.
